As the legislature assesses Washington's medical marijuana program in light of the marijuana legalization initiative I-502 passed last November, the LCB and the State Departments of Revenue and Health were tasked with developing recommended changes to the medical-use program. However, patient advocates have become increasingly concerned by comments from state officials and last month's recommendations, which indicate an unwillingness to accommodate two parallel markets and a desire to roll the state's 15-year old medical marijuana program into the emerging recreational marijuana program by making the medical-use law much more restrictive, the requirements unnecessarily onerous, and the costs far too prohibitive for patients.

"Patients in Washington will not sit idly by to see the state dismantle its 15-year old medical marijuana program and attempt to roll them into a nascent recreational market," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "The very real needs of medical marijuana patients cannot be adequately met by the recreational marijuana program and must be addressed by preserving and strengthening the law that currently exists," continued Sherer. "We're urging Governor Inslee and the state legislature not to abandon the tens of thousands of patients in Washington and continue to treat medical marijuana as a public health issue."